


The Things We Don't Know

by fleurdelysee



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Non-Magical, Eventual Romance, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Light Angst
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-20
Updated: 2017-12-17
Packaged: 2019-01-20 02:52:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,090
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12423594
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fleurdelysee/pseuds/fleurdelysee
Summary: Annabeth Chase thought she knew everything about her best friend Percy, but when he shares with her that his grades have been slipping lately, she starts to notice a few behaviours at odds with the Percy she thought she knew. On top of it all, it seems her feelings have grown to more than just simple friendship...Percy Jackson feels like his life is spiralling out of control. He's failing his classes, he's distracted at swimming practice and no one seems to believe him when he tells them he's fine. He isn't fine, but admitting it would force him to let out a long-kept secret...





	1. Annabeth

**Author's Note:**

> I was looking through my (increasingly growing) folder of fanfic ideas and stumbled upon this story that I'd started writing a long time ago, but never finished. I wasn't too unhappy with what I found so I decided to post it. I have notes for the rest of the story and scenes that have already been written out, so I also have no excuse not to finish this story though I make no promises.
> 
> I also wanted to make clear that this story talks about abuse. It's an important part of the story, though the abuse itself won't be described in detail, which is why I put no warning for violence. If however you feel that I've neglected a tag or warning, please tell me so I can make the necessary adjustments.

Annabeth always started her mornings in the same way. Unlike a lot of her peers, she liked waking-up early in the mornings to have plenty of time to get dressed for school and enjoy some quiet reading time. Unfortunately, this quiet time was often cut short.

“Annabeth!” a voice called.

“What?” replied Annabeth, as she flipped the pages of her architecture textbook. When her stepmother didn’t reply, the teen sighed and closed her book before walking down the stairs, annoyed. _I hate it when she does that_ , she thought.

“What?” she said again, as she came face to face with her stepmother.

“I have to go to work early this morning to make all the preparations for my meeting. Can you make sure Bobby and Matthew get to school alright?” The older woman grabbed her purse and quickly checked the time on her watch.

“Sure, whatever,” Annabeth said.

The older woman frowned a bit before shaking her head. As she left she uttered a: “Thank you, sweetheart.”

Annabeth felt herself twitch. She and her father’s wife didn’t get along very well, and certainly not for lack of trying. Mrs. Chase tried very hard to act as motherly to her stepdaughter as she did with her born children, but most of her attempts came across as forced and insecere. In turn, Annabeth tried to be pleasant and polite, which made all their interactions stilted and awkward. Annabeth almost had an easier time dealing with the twins, who constantly interrupted her study sessions and liked to throw gum in her hair. Trying to get them to school on time, without making herself late would be a near-impossible task.

“Bobby! Matthew” she screamed. “Time to get ready for school.” No replies came from upstairs. Sighing, Annabeth starting climbing up the stairs, mentally preparing herself as one would when stepping into combat.

An hour later, she had finally succeeded at dropping off the boys and she hurried to reach her best friend’s house. As she was a bit late, she wasn’t surprised to see him sitting on the front steps of his apartment building, all jittery, though he smiled as he recognized her car. Grabbing his backpack, he opened the passenger door and slid into the car. He opened his mouth, but Annabeth interrupted.

“I know, I know. I’m late. The twins again.” She glanced at him, making sure he had put on the security belt before moving the car.

“Oh sure,” Percy replied exaggeratedly. “Blame the poor little fellaws who aren’t even here to defend themselves!”

“Shut up,” said Annabeth whose lips twitched into a small smile.

Percy was the happiest guy Annabeth knew. His smiles were always the brightest, his laughs the loudest, and his eyes had this permanent mischievous twinkle, which made it impossible to not be happy around him. If she hadn’t known better, she would’ve believed that he thought everything was a joke. But she had noticed the way he slightly recoiled when offered alcohol at parties and the way his body tensed up when the topic of family came up. He also could not stand bullies.

They had been friends for four years now. They had had a common friend in Grover, a kid whose legs had been permanently damaged in a car accident when he was young and had to use crutches to get around. Many kids had liked to taunt him for that. One day, some kid had taken one of Grover’s crutch and dared Grover to walk and get it. Percy, who’d only been at that school for a week, had marched over through the small crowd that had gathered, grabbed the crutch and punched the guy in the face, before getting Grover back on his feet. Impressed, Annabeth had congratulated him for his intervention though she made a point of criticizing his form, stating that he shouldn't cover this thumb when throwing punches. A frail friendship had formed between the three of them, but they really got close when Percy had been accused of stealing _The Lightning Bolt_ , a painting, which had been donated to the school by a rich alumnus. Annabeth and Grover had been one of the few to believe him innocent, and together, the three friends had undertook an investigation that eventually led to the real thief. Since then, the three had been inseparable.

“But seriously, if you continue to be late like this I might just have to..." He shuddered. "...take the bus!”

Annabeth gasped in a melodramatic fashion. “No, not the bus! Percy, no! I could never forgive myself!”

They both laughed, though Percy did have a point about her lateness and Annabeth resented having had to drop her brothers off. Since Annabeth had gotten her driving licence, her dad and stepmom had starting to rely on her more and more to run errands, and to drive her little brothers around, whether it was to drop them off at school or at a friend’s house, or to pick up from one of the gazillion extracurricular activities they had signed up for. Her licence no longer represented freedom or independence, but rather responsibilities and family obligations. She almost envied Percy whose birthday was in the summer, which meant he’d have to wait a few more months before being able to take the test.

When they finally arrived, Annabeth parked the car and she and Percy ran inside, before heading off to their respective classes.

At lunch time, she sat at her usual table and was soon joined by her friends. Despite his crutches, Grover had managed to snatch the first batch of enchiladas, the entire batch in fact. Annabeth shook her head, amused.

“Got enough to eat there, G-Man?” said Jason as he sat down beside him, his girlfriend, Piper, soon following.

“Hey, don’t judge now. I’m a growing boy, and I need all the energy I can get!” replied Grover.

“If you say so, bro.”

The group were soon joined by Leo, Hazel and Frank, who by accident, seemed to share all the same classes. Annabeth, who shared almost no classes with any of their group due to being enrolled in many AP classes, envied their luck.

“Hey Jason,” said Annabeth. “Where’s Percy? You had Ancient Greek history before lunch together, right?”

“Oh, Mr Brunner wanted to speak with him after class. Hey Grover, are you really going to eat all that?”

“Hum, maybe.”

They all rolled their eyes at Grover’s answer. The boy could eat a surprising amount of food, but he did have a tendency to order so much food even he couldn’t eat it all. He usually ended up giving his leftovers to Percy, who almost always forgot to bring his lunch money.

Speaking of the wolf… 

“Hey guys!” 

“Hey!” they all replied, nodding or waving at Percy as he grabbed an enchilada out of Grover’s plate and sat down. Leo tried to take one as well, but one look from Grover made it known that to do so would be a fatal mistake. Leo gulped.

“You’d think that by now, you’d know that only Percy can pull that off,” said Hazel.

“Yeah, why is that?” Asked Frank.

Percy smiled mischievously. “Maybe I’m just that awesome,” he suggested.

They all snorted, except Annabeth who looked at Percy intently. His cheeks had coloured a bit and he’d hunched his shoulders, almost as if he was embarrassed.

“You wish,” said Grover. “Nah, I’m just taking pity on you. I mean, with that seaweed brain of yours, you need all the help you can get!”

“Perce, what did Mr. Brunner want to talk to you about?” Jason asked once the laughter had died down.

“Oh, not much. Just some new info regarding the next swim meet.”

Annabeth frowned, noticing that Percy’s shoulder had tensed ever so subtly, but before she could ask anymore information, Leo banged his hands against the table.

“Aw, come on you guys! That’s gross!” he exclaimed.

Hazel and Frank had started kissing. Ever since they had gotten together last month, they couldn’t seem to take their hands off each other. It was sweet at first, but it did start to get annoying.

“Let them be, Leo! They’re cute!” said Piper.

“Like you can talk! Jason and you are almost just as bad!”

“Are not!” protested Jason.

“Are too!” replied Leo.

Annabeth and Percy shared a look, both grinning despite themselves.

“Looks like we didn’t miss anything after all, Nico! For the record, Leo’s right, you’re both equally as bad,” said a new comer.

“You don’t even know what we’re talking about Thalia,” said Jason.

“We don’t need to,” snorted Nico, who had arrived with Thalia. “With you guys, it’s always the same thing.”

Nico was the youngest of the group, but he liked to think of himself as the most mature. Which, to be fair, thought Annabeth, was mostly true. The group chatted on for a while and too soon lunchtime was over. Though she usually liked to be the first to arrive in class, she took her time to pick up her things, wanting to talk a bit more with Percy.

“So, what’s up with the next meet?” she asked.

“Uh?” Percy narrowed his eyes in confusion.

“The info Mr Brunner wanted to give you that couldn’t wait till swimming practice?”

“Oh right. Well, there’s this guy coming to our next meet, scouting for candidates for sponsorships and stuff and… well, Mr Brunner said that if I keep on training the way I do, I might have a chance at it,” he said, in an extremely casual sort of tone for a guy who lived for swimming.

“Percy, that’s great!” exclaimed Annabeth. She grabbed his arm and pulled him into a quick hug. “I’m so proud of you! I mean… I know it hasn’t happened yet, but you’re definitely the best swimmer on the team!”

“Yeah…” said Percy, without enthusiasm. “We better hurry to class or we’ll be late. See you later!” He hurried off, leaving Annabeth behind. She frowned, but hurried her step when she heard the warning bell, resolving to talk with her friend properly at the end of the day. 

\-----  
Percy had swimming practice after school, which usually meant that he’d grabbed the city bus to get home since Annabeth preferred to get home early to get on with her chores. On weekdays she was often expected to help with dinner, sometimes preparing it herself if her dad and stepmother were too busy. That night, however, the twins had a soccer practice and her parents usually liked to tag-along and had dinner together. Annabeth was sometimes hurt when her family shared moments like these together without her. It seemed to highlight the obvious - Annabeth did not belong with them. That night however, she was thankful for the reprieve as it enabled her to sit in on the swim team practice.  


It was always a pleasure to see Percy in the water. He seemed at ease in a way he never was on land, his movement fluid and graceful, like he was made of water himself. He seemed to encounter no resistance as he zoomed from one end of the pool to the other. Mr. Brunner seemed to be frowning a bit however as he looked at the chronometer. He beckoned him over and they talked, too low and too far for Annabeth to get a sense of what they were talking about. She did notice that after their talk, Percy had squared his shoulders and returned to his laps with renewed vigour. He was the last once to exit the water when Mr. Brunner declared the end of practice. 

“Hey Percy,” called Annabeth when he exited the changing room. “Nice job in there! Are you sure you aren’t half fish? I swear, you seem to get faster every time I see you in the water.” 

Percy smiled lightly, before frowning. “That’s not what coach is saying. He says I still need to shave off 1.8 seconds off my time to have a shot at the championship and to impress the sponsorship guy. I haven’t done any progress on my time in a while.” 

“I’m sure you’ll figure it out soon enough. You work so hard, Percy. Just continue like that and I’m sure you’ll get to where you want in time for the competition.” Annabeth truly believed it too, but Percy’s eyes refused to meet hers. His head was laying low and his next words were close to whispers. 

“It’s just… I’ve other things on my mind right now.” 

“Like what?” 

“I...I kinda lied earlier. Mr. Brunner didn’t just want to talk to me about the sponsorship,” he signed. “I guess I haven’t been doing that well in his class and he’s worried.” 

“But I thought Greek history was your best class.”

“It was… I guess I stopped seeing the point of it.”

“Percy…” 

“It’s fine. I’ll have to study extra hard for the next test that’s all.”

“I can help you study if you want! I could go over to your place after class tomorrow and…” 

“No,” Percy interrupted quickly. “I mean, I really appreciate the offer, but you’re taking like five AP classes and you have to help your brothers… I wouldn’t like to put you out.” 

“Put me out? Percy, if I say I want to help, then I really don’t mind.” 

“Well, I mind,” he said harshly. “Can we go now? I have homework to do.”

Annabeth was taken aback by Percy’s tone and didn’t say anything more. She headed towards the car and got in. She slammed her door and didn’t say a word as she drove Percy home. The entire ride was tense and quiet, the opposite of the easy banter they had enjoyed that morning. She arrived at Percy’s apartment and he stepped out of the car, but only turned to look at him when she sensed his hesitation. He was holding the passenger door but had yet to close it.

“Look, Annabeth, you don’t have to worry about me. I’ll be fine.” He smiled hesitantly, as if to prove there wasn’t anything wrong. Annabeth repressed a snort. She was far from convinced.

“I can be worried when you’re snapping at me for no reason.”

Percy lowered his head. “Sorry. Hum, see you tomorrow?”

“Yeah, I’ll see you tomorrow.” 

Percy met her eye and grinned. “Don’t be late!” 

“Oh shut up,” replied Annabeth, laughing. 

Percy finally closed the door and Annabeth drove back home, quickly made herself a sandwich and resolved to get as much work as possible before the return of the two terrors, though she could not quiet the thought that something was going on with her friend.


	2. Percy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really want to apologize for taking this long to update. I've written this chapter some time ago, and then rewrote it a couple times, but I was never satisfied with it. I do have most of the story planned out so hopefully the next chapter won't take as long.

Percy was bent over his desk, trying to muster an ounce of interest for the books he had in front of him. He could really have used Annabeth's help, and not just in Greek History. In truth, his grades had been getting progressively worse in all of his classes and if it kept getting worse, Mr. Brunner would have no choice but to remove him from the swimming team, competition or not. At the thought, a painful knot settled in his stomach and he found he felt too bad to study any more. He closed his textbook with a groan.

He had never been a good student, in fact, his grades had always been terrible. Having Annabeth for a friend had managed to instil in him some good studying habits and he'd been improving. He'd still been far from being As in all his classes, but his grades had been good enough to ensure his place on the team had not been questioned until now. He'd even managed to get an A- average in Ancient Greek History, not wanting to let Mr. Brunner down. The man had high expectations of Percy, and not just when it came to swimming, but he was the only teacher, maybe the only adult, who seemed to believe Percy could do more, be more. However, that thought was no longer enough to push him to work and study hard to at least maintain his average in Brunner's class.

God, he missed his mom. Sally always knew just what to say to get Percy to study. In fact, if she were home now, she'd probably burst into his room with a pack of flashcards and a plate of freshly baked cookies to bribe him into studying. Maybe it was because she had always wanted to pursue her studies, but hadn't been able to, but Sally always knew how to make learning fun and interesting. Unfortunately, she had recently started working longer and later work shifts and was rarely at the apartment on school nights. Sally was always apologetic when Percy complained, explaining that she had needed to work more hours to stay on top of the bills. Percy suspected however that working longer and later hours was a way of keeping away from home when Gabe was at its worst: drunk and aggressive.

Percy couldn't blame her. In fact, he was always eager to accept a friend's invitation to head over to their place after school. He even started taking his time leaving the school building. He'd do anything to not have to come home and breathe in his stepfather's smelly cigars and bare his snide comments. His friends sometimes asked if they could come over, but Percy always refused.

Part of it was shame at the poor state of the apartment, which had empty beer bottles and bags of chips strewn across the floor, and part of it was the continued presence of his disgusting stepfather, who seemed averse to being anywhere other than the living room. Another, maybe bigger, part of it was fear that they would come and somehow [i]know[/i].

Percy was distracted from his thoughts by the sound of a key turning the lock. His mother was home and it was only 9:40. She usually got home well after he went to bed. He stepped out of his room just as his mother opened the door. She smiled when she saw him.

"How was your day?" he asked.

"Oh you know. Work as usual. It was fine." She dropped her purse on the counter and stepped towards her son. "And you? How was school?"

"Oh you know. Work as usual," he replied evenly. His mother smiled in response.

"Did you finally talk to Annabeth?" she asked, her eyes suddenly looking mischievous.

Percy frowned. "I always talk to Annabeth. She's my best friend. Also, my driver."

"Right." Sally grinned. "It's just, the way you talk about her, it seems like you might want to be more than just friends."

Percy felt his cheeks burning lightly. "That's not true. I talk about Grover just as much."

"Ah, but I don't remember the last time you've told me about Grover's pretty eyes," she teased.

Once again, Percy felt his cheeks burn. "It's not… it's not like that."

Sally didn't reply but she was still grinning, as if she knew a secret Percy wasn't privy too. That particular smile might've been the one thing he disliked about this mother. Though he supposed she could've had worse faults than nosiness.

"Sally? You're home already? Hope you didn't get fired. Rent is due soon," called Gabe's irritating voice from the next room. At these words, Sally hunched her shoulders.

"Don't worry, Gabe. The restaurant just closed early today," she explained. "They won't even cut it from my pay."

"If you say so," Percy's stepfather replied, unconvinced. "Make yourself useful and get me another beer will you."

"Right away," said Sally, though she didn't hurry to the kitchen.

Percy clenched his fists. He hated hearing Gabe talk to his mother like that. He wondered for the thousandth time why she didn't just leave him. They didn't need Gabe. In fact, they'd be much better off without him spending all their money gambling, drinking and smoking.

"Calm down, honey. It's fine." Sally put a hand on Percy's shoulder and squeeze affectionately. "We don't want to provoke him."

"He shouldn't speak to you like that! Especially when you've just come back from work and he's spent the entire day sitting on his ass!" As angry as he was, Percy kept his voice low. His mother had a point. No need to purposefully bring on Gabe's anger.

"Did you say something, punk?" screamed Gabe.

"Just talking about his homework honey," replied Sally, hurriedly.

"Stop talking and bring me my beer then! And tell your brat to shut up!"

Sally sighed. "Did you finish your homework?" she whispered to Percy.

Percy wanted to admit that he hadn't, that he couldn't focus on his homework, hadn't been for a while, and not because of his dyslexia and ADHD. He wanted to tell her about failing all of his classes and being this close to getting kicked off the swimming team. And he wanted to say that he woke up most mornings with a weight in his chest that made him afraid to get of bed to face the day. When he met her kind eyes however, he felt like a bigger failure than ever and couldn't bring himself to tell her the truth. "Yeah, just finished before you arrived actually."

Sally smiled. "Good. Then go to bed. I'll handle Gabe."

"Where's my beer, bitch!" screamed her husband.

Percy took a step forward but his mother gently pushed him back. "Go to bed, Percy," she whispered urgently.

Percy hesitated. It never felt right to let his mother handle Gabe alone, but she knew best how to calm him down. His mother would be fine as long as she knew he was safe. He nodded, and then went to his room. It was still early for him to go to bed, but he changed into his pyjamas and lied in bed, listening to music from his MP3 player. He soon fell asleep.


	3. Percy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Percy gets disappointing news and can't help acting weird around Annabeth.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is basically part two of the previous chapter. It's the part I initially cut because I wasn't really pleased with it. However, since I haven't made too many edits in the past month, I figured it was time to post it and move on. Hopefully, it's just me being very particular and you'll all enjoy this chapter. I'll do my best to post the next chapter before the end of the month.

The next morning, Percy was woken up by his mother. He grumbled a bit when he glanced at the alarm clock on the end table beside his bed. He didn’t need to get up for school for another five minutes! He glared silently at his mother, who smiled. “I’m sorry for waking you, honey, but I need to tell you something before I leave for work. We didn’t have much time to chat last night.” 

Percy nodded and raised his body into a sitting position on his bed. He rubbed his eyes. “I’m listening.” Sally sat down at the other end of the bed and looked down at her lap. 

“Well, Mr. Davis has asked me to work more hours over Easter weekend…” she started, then hesitated. 

Percy’s eyes narrowed. “Okay, and?”

“I won’t have time off for our usual celebration,” she said regretfully. She looked up to meet Percy’s eyes. “I’m sorry, Percy.” 

“Oh,” he said. Their usual Easter celebration consisted of hunting down every coupon and specials they could find, go on an extreme food hunt in the different supermarkets of the neighbourhood to get the best of each deal, and try to make a feast out of their eclectic collection of food. Some years, they managed to muster up a more traditional Easter diner with ham, mashed potatoes and hot cross buns. More often than not, they had to improvise recipes with mixed results. One particularly memorable year, they’d ended up with two kilos of blueberries and had had to find memorable ways to use them up in every meal for a week. Gabe was never impressed with their holiday antics, which he viewed as a waste of time and money, but he’d been particularly miffed that year, as he didn’t care for blueberries or blue foods in general. 

When Percy didn’t respond, Sally tried to explain a bit more. “Things are already getting hectic at work and they think we’ll be even busier over the weekend. Besides, they’ll be paying me overtime and… well, we could really use the money.”

“It’s fine, mom. I understand, ” he said, slightly dejected. He’d been looking forward to spend some time with his mother who seemed to be working more hours every week. “Really, it’s okay,” he added when his mother didn’t look convinced. “We can always do our coupon hunting later.” 

“You’re a good kid,” sighed Sally. She smiled sadly then moved closer to Percy to hug him. “Well, I have to go.” She got up and walked to the door, but paused for a moment. “I think you should try to make plans with your friends. I don’t like the thought of you being alone at the apartment.” 

Though she didn’t say it, Percy knew she meant that she didn’t want him to be alone with Gabe. 

She left, leaving Percy feeling a bit gloomy. He’d been looking forward to their weekend, one of the only times it felt like Gabe couldn’t touch them as he didn’t care much for holidays and was usually happy to let them do their own thing while he sat on his ass, playing poker. Having his mom work over the weekend, however, meant more than just missing out on Easter celebrations. It meant being stuck at the apartment for four days alone with his stepfather. He grimaced at the thought, but the sound of his alarm clock ringing distracted him. Time to get ready for school. 

As usual, time seemed to be going particularly fast and Percy ran back and forth around the apartment trying to get dressed, eat breakfast, and pick his school things in his backpack. He wouldn’t want to keep Annabeth waiting, in case she was on time picking him up. Once his jacket was on, he ran down the stairs. Once outside, he looked around quickly for Annabeth’s car, but didn’t spot it. He sat down, and started bouncing his leg as he thought back to his conversation with his mother. 

He felt momentarily relieved when Annabeth’s car pulled in, grateful for the distraction. Or he was until he remembered the weirdness of the previous night. As he stepped into the car, Percy tried to apologize once more for his attitude the night before, but Annabeth brushed off his apology. “We all have bad days,” she said simply.

“Yeah, but I was kind of a jerk,” he replied. 

“Yeah, you were,” said Annabeth. But she was smiling and something loosened up in the air between them. Once she took off with Percy comfortably sitting in the passenger seat, they soon went back to their usual banter and gentle teasing. 

However, Percy still felt a bit awkward, his mother’s words from the night before kept playing over and over in his mind. 

Did he have a thing for Annabeth? He’d always found her pretty, but who wouldn’t with those luscious golden locks and piercing grey eyes? She was also a force to be reckoned with, filled with some untameable energy that made everyone around her know that crossing her would be a grave mistake. Still, they had been friends for so long. Best friends even. It’s not something he could compromise just because he supposedly talked about her “pretty eyes” too often. Right? 

“Percy… is something wrong?” Annabeth asked suddenly. 

“Uh? No, no,” he said hurriedly. Despite himself, he could feel his checks reddening slightly. He hadn’t realized he’d been lost in thoughts. “Just thinking.”

Annabeth smiled, teasing. “What were you thinking about?” 

Percy obviously couldn’t tell her the truth. He scrambled his brain for something to say. “Uh, nothing. Just… Easter weekend.” He winced internally. Great. The one topic he had hoped to forget during the day. Hopefully, Annabeth wouldn’t press the issue. 

However, he knew her curiosity was piqued when she turned to look at him, raising an eyebrow. She quickly turned her sight back on the road, but Percy knew he was expected to elaborate. “Looks like its cancelled at my place this year. My mom is working, and Gabe is not into holiday celebrations. I guess I can ask Grover…”

“Oh, you should totally spend the weekend at my house!” Annabeth exclaimed, interrupting Percy. She immediately seemed embarrassed at her outburst; her cheeks reddened and she kept her gaze resolutely on the road ahead. 

“You sure? I don’t want to cause trouble,” said Percy hesitantly. 

“Pfft. You love to cause trouble,” said Annabeth as she made a turn into the school’s parking lot. “But really. It’s no big deal. My grandparents were supposed to come over, but there was some accident or something. Which sucks because we already bought food and prepared the guestroom for their visit.”

The car stopped and they both unbuckled their security belt. 

“That’s too bad,” said Percy. 

“Except you can come over and make all that work not useless,” Annabeth said excitedly. 

“Yeah, except your dad hates me,” said Percy. 

“No, he doesn’t! He just thinks you’re a bad influence.”

Percy gave Annabeth an unimpressed look.

“Fine. I’ll ask him if it’s okay. But he’ll definitely say yes, so don’t make plans with Grover yet.” They both stepped out of the car and started walking towards the entrance. 

Percy didn’t say anything, but he was smiling. He didn’t think Annabeth would be able to convince her father to let Percy spend the weekend with them, but he was pleased that she’d been so quick to make the offer. 

“Well, see you at lunch,” said Annabeth as they reached her locker, which was closed to the school’s main entrance. 

She opened her locker and started putting away some of her textbooks. Her eyebrows were crunched in concentration as she searched her bag for something in particular, most likely homework. She looked particularly cute when she got this focused look on her face, which was not reserved for homework. She’d also get it whenever they played card games with their friends during lunchtime or when they played video games at Grover’s house after school.

Sensing his scrutiny, Annabeth’s head rose up and she frowned. “Did you want to tell me something?” 

Percy’s cheeks heated up when he realized he’d simply stood there to watch her. “Oh no, I was just… um...” The bell rang at this moment and he took the opportunity to get away quickly. “Got to go. See you later.” 

He rushed down the corridor to get to his locker, but mostly to get away from Annabeth. He heard a “You better not be this weird this weekend!” behind him and, even though he felt slightly mortified, he couldn’t help a small smile.


End file.
